The present invention relates to a connector having terminals therein with solder tails formed for mounting against the surface of a printed circuit board.
Connectors having terminals with solder tails extending therefrom for reception in plated through holes of a printed circuit board are well known. Recently, in the interests of facilitating automated placement and economy of circuit board manufacture, "surface mount" connectors have been developed. Such connectors have terminals with solder tails formed for disposition against plated pads on the surface of the board. The terminals are typically fixed in the connector housing, and the tails are formed to sufficient length to assure compliance with the pads regardless of board warpage. In order to achieve the desired properties of a low normal force at the contact interface and a large range of deflection, this entails having solder tails which extend beyond the sidewalls of an elongate housing, which subjects them to damage during handling. If the solder tails were to extend toward adjacent terminals in a row rather than adjacent sidewalls, terminal spacing would have to be increased, and further the "footprint" of the connector would not axially correspond with the respective mating ends of terminals therein.